OMG Ponies!!1!

This weekend was a study in contrasts, child-entertainment-wise. On Saturday, we went with some friends to Rosefest, a celebration of the founder of the Minneapolis parks system that took place in our old neighborhood. It was a little sad being back in the old nabe, because holy crap is it a nicer locale than our current one. I miss living there. But it was great fun to take the Hatchling to a community fair. There were a lot of attractions that she won’t enjoy until she’s older (those inflatable bouncy rooms, a dunk tank, etc.) but there were also some that were right up her alley. The big red fire engine was almost as fun to look at as the kids milling around. There were brats and roasted corn to eat, antique cars to look at, and free ice cream sandwiches. Holla! But the BEST thing was the pony rides. They had one of those live pony carousel things set up, and we went to check it out, figuring the girls would enjoy looking at the ponies even though they were too small to ride them. We stood there ogling and after a few minutes the man who was in charge came over and said “what’s the hold up?” We laughed and said we were just saying how sad we were that the girls were too little to have a ride. The man said “pshaw,” (possibly the only time I have actually heard that expression in real life) and said he’d had babies as young as 4 months old ride – parents could just walk along side, and it was no problem. Well. We weren’t about to let ourselves be outdone by stinking 4-month-olds, so both dads grabbed their girls and hoisted them up onto a pony. The babies were enchanted, both by the ponies and by being on a rid with big kids. It was pretty much teh awesome. Check out the Hatchling’s riding technique:

So that was the classic fun of the weekend – and I can’t WAIT to go to more fairs with the Hatchling as she gets older – but that evening we engaged in some entertainment that was a little more post-millennium. We’ve been enjoying the wonders of YouTube, specifically the gloriousness that is classic Sesame Street clips. As a first-generation Sesame Streeter, I of course look down on some of these upstart newfangled characters like Elmo. I was watching when Mr. Hooper was on, yo. When Mr. Snuffalupagus could only be seen by Big Bird, and no one else believed he was real. HARD CORE. I don’t think they even show 2/3 of the clips I grew up with anymore, but thanks to YouTube, I can still share them with the Hatchling. (Or spend hours watching them myself after she’s in bed. Whatever.) She’s still not old enough to appreciate most of them, but there are a few segments she totally gets a kick out of. This one is her hands-down favorite right now: